Today we lay an old friend to rest. She saw us through thick and thin for many years. From the first time we saw her, she was beautiful. She was 'the belle of the ball', and everyone wanted to have at least one dance with her. Men around the world wrote volumes UPON volumes about her, to her, and for her. Over the years she grew wiser and more intelligent. She learned new skills some of us had never dreamed of.

Once in a while, there was a bump in the road.. but how many truely great relationships don't have their occasional hick-up? Over the years, we grew to understand her deeper and deeper. However, as much as we knew about her, time would see us, again and again, seeking out help to try and understand her. What man really understands a woman anyway? Especially one as deep and rich as our love. I call her our love, in all earnestness. At times, she would have us toiling for days and days on end, merely to satisfy some whim. In the end, we would fill ourselves so deeply with her, that we would spend the night dreaming about her. How is it not love to fill ones self so deeply of another?

By and by, as time inevitably does for all of us, her looks and her spirit began to fade. The young and nubile started learning new tricks, and the day came when she would have to hang her head in shame, and admit that her old bones just couldn't do the things that they used to be able to accomplish. <wipes>. To quote a greater orator than myself 'When I have pluck’d thy rose, I cannot give it vital growth again, it needs must wither.'

So here friends, today, we gather to remember. The good times and the bad. Neither would be quite so cherished without the other. We should be thankful for them both. She and we grew and learned many things over the years. Each one of us who loved her so can state truthfully that there were things, perhaps many things, that she taught us.. without which we would be just a bit more shallow, just a bit more hollow.

Today I wish to think back, and remember it all. Her beauty, her agility, her grace and wisdom and intelligence. I would like to recall all the HUNDREDS of skills she learned, and the amazingly diverse persona that she become. Of course I can't do that, I am not at all sure that I ever new all of the amazing things about her. But that's why I loved her so.

That is why we gather here today. To honor her. To respect her. To thank her for having known her. ..and to say our last, final farewell.